CTS Corporation (NYSE: CTS) and AVX Corporation (NYSE:AVX) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, valuation and profitabiliy.

CTS Corporation has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AVX Corporation has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

92.1% of CTS Corporation shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.6% of AVX Corporation shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.7% of CTS Corporation shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of AVX Corporation shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

CTS Corporation pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. AVX Corporation pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. CTS Corporation pays out 15.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AVX Corporation pays out 59.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. CTS Corporation has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years and AVX Corporation has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. AVX Corporation is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for CTS Corporation and AVX Corporation, as reported by MarketBeat.

CTS Corporation currently has a consensus price target of $24.50, suggesting a potential upside of 10.11%. AVX Corporation has a consensus price target of $16.25, suggesting a potential downside of 9.57%. Given CTS Corporation’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe CTS Corporation is more favorable than AVX Corporation.

AVX Corporation has higher revenue and earnings than CTS Corporation. CTS Corporation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AVX Corporation, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

CTS Corporation beats AVX Corporation on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CTS Corporation

CTS Corporation is a manufacturer of sensors, electronic components and actuators. The Company designs, manufactures and sells a line of sensors, electronic components and actuators primarily to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for the transportation, industrial, medical, information technology, defense and aerospace, and communications markets. It operates manufacturing facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Its products perform specific electronic functions for a given product family and are intended for use in customer assemblies. The Company’s products consist principally of sensors and actuators used in passenger or commercial vehicles; electronic components used in communications infrastructure, information technology and other high-speed applications; switches and potentiometers supplied to multiple markets, and fabricated piezoelectric materials and substrates used primarily in medical, industrial, defense and aerospace, and information technology markets.